Chihuly at the Gardens

I love free days in Denver at the museums.  I am even willing to put up with the huge crowds so I don't have to pay any admission fees.  We were super lucky at our last free day at the Botanic Gardens; Dale Chihuly, a famous glass sculptor, had a traveling exhibition on display.  As soon as we walked through the gates, we knew we were in for a treat.  The first piece to greet us reminded McKenzie of icicles that Elsa would make, and she immediately claimed it as her favorite one.  

Our map showed us where each piece was, and Cambrie made it her mission to direct us to all of them using her map.  I have to say, I was very impressed that she was able to read the map correctly as she guided us through the gardens.  Most of the installations had names, but even the ones that didn't were beautiful and I think we snapped pictures of almost every single one.

"Summer sun"

This entire pond was full of glass artwork.  The ones in the back I think are entitled "Green Hornets," and the blue reeds are simply "Blue Reeds."  It was an impressive sight to see the glass intermingled with the lily pads.

These ones remind me of swans.

We took a quick lunch break in the park.  There is just something quintessential about little kids and juice boxes.

Look on the bridge and you can see Cambrie waving at me.

The kids were checking out the goldfish in the pond instead of the "Walla Wallas" floating just beyond the shore.  I thought that Kelton might wiggle out of Cambrie arms and go for a swim.  He wanted so desperately to touch the fish.

"Red Reeds"

"Purple Reeds"  (I know, these were very creatively named.

This one may have ended up being McKenzie's favorite.  It is named "White Tower."  She loved the fact that it was pink, and it had sparkles embedded in many of the arms.  

Towards the end we found a walkway lined with reeds of all different colors, patterns, and shapes.

I tried to get one last picture of all three kids looking at me before we left.  They chose these Alice in Wonderland reeds, but they sure didn't choose to smile for the camera.  Oh well.  As long as you understand that we spent three hours at the gardens and they were happy and involved the entire time, then we can just overlook this small detail.